WELLFLEET – The 15th edition of the annual State of Wellfleet Harbor Conference takes place today.
The Mass Audubon event, which features several presentations from local researchers, focuses on the health, vitality and overall wellbeing of the harbor.
“Even though the focus is Wellfleet Harbor, honestly, many of the topics that we deal with are relevant to any Cape town,” said Jenette Kerr, a spokesperson for Mass Audubon’s Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary.
Discussions at the conference will include climate change and sea level rise and an update on the Herring River Restoration.
“There are so many ramifications to that project that every year we try to have a couple of talks that give people some insight into the science that’s been going on as part of the process that they’ll be using to gradually restore tidal flow,” Kerr said.
The river was artificially dyked in the early 20th century to control mosquitos for the tourist population.
“In fact, it has just been slowly killing the river, at the upper reaches especially where there is no tidal flow,” Kerr said. “It’s essentially fresh water but it’s also degraded water. There used to be healthy oyster beds all the way up and now that’s not the case.”
Restoring tidal flow would make the entire system healthier with greater shellfish resources.
The conference will also feature talks on dolphins. A study by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution is trying to determine if there are certain noises the marine mammals make before they strand.
“They’ve had some buoy receivers out in the harbor and they are trying to determine if there is a certain kind of sound a dolphin makes before they come ashore,” Kerr said.
A goal of the study is to try to develop an early detection system for rescuers to respond more quickly.
Another talk from the International Fund for Animal Welfare will discuss the current dolphin stranding season which is the busiest on record.
“They’ve developed some protocols and tools and just some hard knowledge on how to get to the animals sooner, and how to treat them,” Kerr said. “A lot of it has to do with their very high success rate for returning some of these animals back out into the bay where they’re safe and having relatively few fatalities.”
A field trip will also be held between 9 and 11 a.m. to observe signs of sea level rise at the Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary.
The free conference is open to the public and runs from 8:30 a.m. to 2 p.m.
For a full schedule of events and presentations visit www.massaudubon.org/wellfleet-harbor-conference.
By BRIAN MERCHANT, CapeCod.com NewsCenter
About CapeCod.com NewsCenter
